Africa Business Communities

[CEO Interview] Hussaini Yakubu, CEO, Qazique, Nigeria

Hussaini Yakubu is CEO of Qazique Ltd. Nigeria, an Information and Communications Technology company.

His interview with Africa Business Communities:

Would you please introduce Qazique to us?

Qazique is a company at the forefront of Information and Communication Technology. Our major areas of service also include learning and development and human resources. Quite simply, we help companies and individuals make more of their lives through learning. We provide a range of education products and services to institutions, governments using a powerful, robust, web-delivered learning management system to deliver our contents.

In which industries does Qazique operate?

We operate in the ICT sector. We provide our service across all verticals but with primary focus on SMEs.

What are the USP’s of your business?

We have a simple mission: to help business and people do more using technology and learning. Our commitment to our client is a holistic business approach. It begins by using research to understand what sort of solution works best, it continues by bringing together people, processes and technologies to develop ideas and solutions, and it comes back round by measuring the outcomes of our services and solutions.

Who are your clients?

Our clients’ base cuts across all verticals, from small SME to major corporations

How does Qazique remain competitive in a fast-changing global marketplace?

By providing our customers with what adds value to their businesses by either reducing cost or improve efficiency and productivity.

What can be done by entrepreneurs and government to stimulate the business environment in Nigeria?

On the entrepreneurs’ side, we need to improve on our knowledge, marketing skills and governance.

The government should provide an enabling environment for businesses to thrive – this includes  power, security, easier access to loans, special patronage for SMEs, proper governance structure, reliable judiciary, etc.

This will go a long way in reducing the burden most businesses face.

What can you say about the targets, plans and ambitions of Qazique for 2015?

Our target is to make our customer do their business more effectively using technology solutions we provide. We also hope that companies will invest in training their staff to be more productive using our solutions in learning, and that they hire the right people using us.

Do you believe Social Media and the Internet to be a plus to the business environment, as it applies to your industry?

Social media and the internet play an important role in any business, but the level of impact on the business also depends on the type of business. An e-commerce will depend more on the internet and social media than a bakery for instance.

However, I believe all businesses should have some online presence.

What expectations do you have for Nigeria’s economy in 2015?

With the recent change in government in Nigeria, we expect the future to be brighter and bigger because we expect more fiscal discipline in the system, and more transparency.

However, this will depend on the new government policies. We expect some lull in Q2 because of the change and uncertainties. We expect some improvement in Q3-Q4 when most of the uncertainties would have cleared up.

Which African countries will perform best in 2015?

Nigeria, Kenya and Angola.

Nigeria for its size – this will always be a major factor. Kenya, because they are the biggest market in East Africa. We can expect more business to grow and expand in that region

Angola has a small population and plenty oil resource; this is always a good combination when you have good leadership in place.

www.qazique.com

www.linkedin.com/profile

 

Africa Business Communities is conducting a series of interviews with CEO's in Africa. Are you a CEO in Africa and interested in an interview? Please send an e-mail to Andrea Ayemoba: andrea@africabusinesscommunities.com

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